Sixteen
by Kari Izumi
Summary: Mokuba is a teenager, trying to step out of his brother's shadow and make his own mark in the world.
1. Chapter One: Changes

**Sixteen**

**By Kari Izumi**

**Chapter one: Change**

Summary: Mokuba is now a teenager, growing up and trying to discover his own identity that's separate from his beloved older brother's. He doesn't always do it very well, but he's getting there.

I do not own Yuugioh—that is property of Kazuki Takahashi. The only thing I own in full is the idea (Although if Mr. Takahashi wants to borrow it for a manga after he's done with G/X, I wouldn't object ;) ).

NOTE: All monetary units in this fic are in yen, not dollars. One dollar is roughly 115 yen; for example, 5 million yen is somewhere around 60,000 dollars (not a whole lot, comparatively speaking).

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Yuugi Mutou sat down behind the counter after he had finished sweeping the floors for the day in the Kame Game shop. Summer vacation had just started, and he was happy to be home for the first time in months. His only regret was that he wouldn't see much of his grandfather, who was on another expedition, this time visiting a tribal land in America. He certainly hope he'd still up to exploring at his age; but having seen had more adventure in the past few years than most saw in their entire lives, Yuugi was just as glad to be home, spending his free time watching his grandfather's game shop than saving the world.

Seven o'clock P.M. was finally here, and with that, Yuugi unceremoniously replaced the "Open" sign with "Closed" in the window. Perhaps Yuugi had been away from home too long, because he found everything to be way too slow-paced as far as the store went today. But at least he had gotten a call from Ryou Bakura earlier in the day and the two made plans to catch a meal tomorrow evening.

Yuugi was happy to meet a familiar face; going to college in Tokyo meant he had to plan accordingly. Having been on the news many times for his various Duel Monsters victories, Yuugi had plenty of friends at school. But still, he missed the times he spent with his closest friends--Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi… there were even times the Duel Monsters champion even longed for the rivalry between him and Seto Kaiba (however one-side it was on Kaiba's end). The two had barely spoken to each other since he and Atemu separated, but knowing how Kaiba kept to himself except his kid brother Mokuba, it wasn't at all surprising. Everyone was so scattered these days, it was hard to keep up.

_How things change_…he thought wistfully.

Wallet in hand, Yuugi stepped outside to grab a bite to eat at Burger World. As he closed the door, something caught the corner of his eye and Yuugi turned to look at the mailbox; He saw a magazine made of flimsy, thin paper sticking out the top corner. He pulled it out and discovered it was one of those ten yen a dozen celebrity gossip rags, with his grandfather's name on the corner.

"Jii-chan…" Yuugi laughed. "When did you become so interested in stuff like this…EH?"

The title of one article featured on the center of the front page got his attention at once, written in large, bolded font: _Kaiba Gone Wild! Page 42!_

Yuugi stared at the title for a moment. Then his sides began to ache as he tried not to double up in laughter at the thought of his formal rival going "wild"—or doing anything fun that wasn't Duel Monsters related, for that matter. Kaiba lived at his company—not so much because he enjoyed it (which he did) as much as it helped him to give Mokuba the normal upbringing he had missed out on--as normal as a kid whose brother is of one of the most powerful people in the world can have, at least.

For the most part, Kaiba had succeeded with flying colors there; Yuugi remembered the younger Kaiba brother being a very energetic and happy kid, and his intelligence was, if not a natural-born prodigy like Seto, very much outstanding. At the age of eleven, Mokuba already knew how to fly a helicopter and was Kaiba Corp's Vice President. To most of the world, he was known as Seto Kaiba's adorably cute kid brother, his most famous feature being his strikingly long, unruly black hair.

_Come to think of it, Mokuba wouldn't be much of a kid anymore, would he? _That was even harder to imagine than Kaiba turning into a party animal. Yuugi knew the boy would be in high school now, but he just couldn't see him as being any older than eleven years old.

Yuugi was tempted to throw the magazine away without peeking at it. But a mix of boredom and curiosity got the better of him so he sat down on the porch step and flipped over to page 42 to see a picture of a tall and slender boy riding on a motorcycle. And to Yuugi's surprise, it wasn't Seto at the helm:

_The story of the Seto Kaiba is considered by most to be something out of a fairy tale, _the article began_. He and his brother were orphaned and penniless but as luck had it, the powerful CEO of the original Kaiba Corp Gozaburo _(Kaiba would cringe at this glorification of his evil adoptive father) _adopted him after losing and trained the older Kaiba to run his company. The Kaiba Corp of today is far more successful than Gozaburo could have ever dreamed it would be, and Seto is still as steadfast and level headed as ever._

_His brother Mokuba doesn't seem to have followed his brother's sense of responsibility. It has been rumored that the young Kaiba has been seen around town with several different young ladies in the past few months. No surprise, given how cute and rich he is._

"Gee, bias much?" Yuugi rolled his eyes and continued.

_According to a reliable source, young Kaiba loves fast cars. Despite only having his drivers' license for a few months, he's already had two speeding tickets in addition to the fender bender he got into just a few days ago._

Yuugi blinked. No way in the world could this be true. Mokuba adored and respected his older brother. It was difficult to imagine why he'd go and do something like that and potentially disgrace Kaiba. And as much as Kaiba loved Mokuba (the only human being in the world he loved, as far as anyone knew), Yuugi didn't doubt that he'd hesitate to knock some sense into him and end that really quickly.

Assuming any of this was remotely true.

"Well, that was a bunch of bull," Yuugi commented to the air without bothering to read the rest of the article and folded it up again to take inside. "Really, Jii-chan, you shouldn't read this…"

At that very moment, he heard a load screeching sound as a red sports car made a slight swerve before it pulled up to the curb in front of the shop. From how fast it had been moving, Yuugi feared the car would crash into the lamppost that was less than a meter from the front bumper. Yuugi recognized the model of car from a magazine he'd read a few months ago, a cherry-red roadster with doors that opened up like wings instead of from the side. It was hard to forget a car that started at a price of around 10 million yen, and this one looked like it was brand new off the lot.

The driver stepped out and looked directly at Yuugi, whose eyes widened a bit. From the distance he was sitting at and the glare from the setting sun, he could have sworn it was Kaiba that had stepped out the car. It wasn't that crazy; he was the only person Yuugi knew who could afford something that expensive, and he was the only person he knew to be that tall.

At a second glance, he realized it wasn't him, but a tall, gray-eyed teenager, whose nearly waist-length black hair has held in place with a rubber band. But still, he couldn't help but feel he knew him…

"Hey, Yuugi-kun!" Even that voice sounded familiar…a bit like Kaiba's but it was far too chipper to be him, and he never used honorifics when addressing anyone.

The kid came running up to him. "It's been a while since I've seen you, eh? I've been wondering when Nii-sama would ever get to dueling you again and take your title as the King of Games." He smiled.

The Duel Monsters locket around the boy's neck instantly reminded Yuugi of who he was…it was none other than…

"Mokuba-kun!"

Yuugi looked in awe, as the boy in front of him, who at one time was the same height at eleven as he was at sixteen, stood very much taller than he did, and the black leather jacket he was wearing making him look very lean. The wide eyes Yuugi remembered looked a little bit smaller, and with his long hair being so neatly held in place, he could almost see a family resemblance to Seto.

"Wow…umm, you're…um…"

"Very tall," he added with a smile.

"And so...grown up!" Yuugi exclaimed. "I barely recognized you."

Mokuba removed the hair band from his locks and shook his head a bit. His hair went in many different directions. "More familiar?" After a nod, Yuugi escorted him inside the shop.

"So, how're you doing lately?" Yuugi asked. "I know you're a first year high schooler, aren't you?"

Mokuba nodded. "It's really great. I'm in the Domino High music club. We collect lots of the new J-pop artist songs and listen to them. And I've been helping a few people learn guitar."

"Wow, that's great!" Yuugi was somewhat surprised at this. With Kaiba Corp being a gaming company, he would have thought Mokuba's interests would have been more towards electronics. He knew the technology to that place inside and out when he was in grade school.

"So, you plan on going to college?" he asked Mokuba. It was a redundant question; of course he would go to college. Kaiba would make sure of that, whether he wanted to or not.

Yuugi's worry was misguided, from Mokuba's enthusiastic nod. "I'll have to ask Nii-sama if I can go to school in Tokyo. _Again._"

"Why there?" he asked. Not that Yuugi wouldn't be glad to have a familiar (kind of!) face while at school, but the Mokuba he remembered used to always stayed very close with Kaiba. They did just about everything together. "There are a few colleges that are closer to home."

"Exactly," Mokuba replied. "Tokyo has a lot more fun places to visit at night. Speaking of that, I heard you go to school there."

"Yeah, I do."

"Have you been to the Shinjuku district?"

"Once or twice."

"What's it like?" The smile on his face was a very mischievous one. "I mean, the clubs…I know you've been to a few…right?"

Yuugi sweat-dropped as he felt his stomach sinking slightly. "I don't think I really should be telling to that…"

"Aw, you're no fun, Yuugi…" Mokuba faked a pout.

Yuugi looked away. "I can't tell you that sort of stuff! Your brother would kill me!"

Mokuba shook his head. "Aw, you just don't want to tell me 'cause you think I'm a kid and it'll give me ideas. It's not like Nii-sama will ever let me go on a trip by myself." A flash of resentment passed on his face for a brief second. Being more concerned about what Mokuba's idea of fun was, this went unnoticed by Yuugi.

Not wanting this very uncomfortable discussion to continue, he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So, anything in particular you were looking for?"

"You didn't happen to have that new version of Duel Dice Monsters, did you?"

"It's pretty popular, so I'm not sure…" Yuugi squatted down and opened up a cabinet on his left side, digging around for a few moments before producing the desired object. "Ah, here it is, the last one. I didn't think you were into these types of games."

"I'm not, but this girl I'm seeing tonight is."

Yuugi looked up and grinned, amused. "You're into girls now, huh?" It shouldn't have surprised Yuugi as much as it did; Jounouchi and he were swapping porn videos with each other at that age. _And Anzu was scolding us for it whenever she found out_, Yuugi thought with amusement.

Mokuba turned a little red and laughed. Then his eyes got a little bit serious.

"By the way…you don't happen to have 'Twister' here…do you?"

"Why would you want that game?" Yuugi asked. "I haven't played that since I was a kid."

The taller boy grew very interested in his feet. Another flash of implied knowledge went through Yuugi's head that he would just as soon rather forget.

"Um…we just sold the last one yesterday," he lied; there were plenty of boxes left, but Yuugi would just as soon not be on the receiving end of Kaiba's wrath, if he found out. With unusually quickness, he pulled the DDM game up to the counter and rang it up. "That'll be 3500 yen."

Mokuba reached for his wallet to draw out a 5000-yen note and for a moment was surprised to find it was empty. "Huh….oh, right."

"You don't have any cash on you?" Yuugi asked, noting in his mind the irony of the wealthiest teenager in the world being short on cash. Perhaps he hadn't gotten out to an ATM recently.

"I'm all out." Mokuba's face looked a little guilty. "I had to take Nii-sama's Benz into the shop today before he came home and found out about the fender bender."

"Ehh…!" was Yuugi's response. "I read about that today and I thought that was made up. You really shouldn't hide something like that. Kaiba-kun will know you didn't mean to do it."

"If I didn't have two speeding tickets already," Mokuba responded quietly.

Yuugi was rendered a little speechless. "How do you have two speeding tickets? You're barely sixteen!"

"Those drivers cut _me_ off," he replied, a bit irritated.

"Twice?" Yuugi exclaimed. "Really, you have to be more careful! You better not get into any trouble with that girl you're going to see tonight--"

Before Yuugi could say anything else on the matter, Mokuba pulled out a debit card and handed it to Yuugi. "You accept these?"

At which point, Yuugi decided the lecturing was best saved for Kaiba. This was his brother, after all.

_Boy, things _have _changed_, he thought to himself as he ran the card through the processor. Yuugi couldn't believe that this was the same little boy who he met at Duelist Kingdom that wanted to duel him for Kaiba's honor. He was such a sweet, innocent kid back then.

And now, he wanted to play "Twister" with girls.

_Oh dear God, I didn't need that image!_

Yuugi's thoughts were broken as he saw the words "Declined" flashing on the machine—which, unlike the rumors in the magazine, was definitely not right. There wasn't anything in the world that the Kaibas couldn't afford. He turned off the card machine for a moment, then turned it back on and ran the card once more, with the same result.

"Hmm…that's odd…"

"What?"

"It keeps saying you're card's been declined."

"I know. I had the card deactivated an hour ago," a third, deeper voice, responded.

Both boys turned their attention to the front door at the stoic figure standing in the doorway. His cobalt eyes dark with suppressed rage and arms folded. The white trench coat blowing in the wind made him look even more intimidating.

Mokuba's eyes went wide with shock at the sight of Kaiba in the doorway.

"Nii-sama!" he yelled. "What are you doing back already!?"

Kaiba didn't respond as he walked over to Mokuba and stopped directly in front of him. He pulled out the same magazine Yuugi had read earlier from his coat and held it up. "How about you explain this first?"

Mokuba stammered while Kaiba's eyes grew narrower with anger. "Well…you see…that is to say…" The younger Kaiba's own gray eyes darted from side to side to the floor as he scratched his head in awkwardness.

"That the tabloids decided to pick on you this week?" Kaiba finished sarcastically.

"Err…yeah?" he let out a nervous laugh. Yuugi looked down at Kaiba's right hand, which looked unusually tense, even for him. "Hey, maybe we can we discuss this later after you've rested? Must be tired from being on a plane for so long--"

"Get the fuck outside," Kaiba ordered through clenched teeth. "_NOW!_"

Never had Yuugi ever seen Kaiba so utterly mad as to use swear words, let alone in front of Mokuba. Either Kaiba was that ticked at his car being wrecked or that worried about Mokuba's safety. And Kaiba wasn't the type to lash out like that in anger.

Mokuba lowered his head slightly as he walked towards the door. "Yes, Nii-sama. See ya, Yuugi-kun."

"Hold on, you left this." He ran over to the two of them to hand over Mokuba's card, which Kaiba promptly snatched up.

"I'll take that, seeing as how Mokuba will be at home for the next month." Kaiba placed it in his pocket, and then turned to his brother. "Give me your car keys."

Mokuba dropped one set of keys into his brother's hand.

"All of them!"

Two more sets followed.

"The motorcycle counts too, smart ass."

And another one fell. All of them were pocketed. "Let's go." Kaiba turned to Yuugi. "I apologize for you having to see that."

"That's really okay…" he replied, still trying to process the whole last ten minutes. The fact that Seto Kaiba, his former rival and a very proud boy, had apologized to him of all people went unnoticed.

As the two of them headed out towards the limo that waited next to the car Mokuba had driven, Yuugi noticed that Kaiba and Mokuba were nearly the same height; a fact that was confirmed as Kaiba reached into his pocket for a rubber band and tied Mokuba's long locks back again.

"A whole month, Nii-sama?"

"That's being really generous, given your track record lately."

The two of them stepped into the limo and it pulled off, leaving a much bewildered and stunned young man wondering how the hell something so rock solid as the Kaibas' relationship get turned upside down.

Yuugi's boring day just became a bit more interesting.

TBC

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So, um…yeah. My first fanfic in the YGO fandom, and my first in years (look at the register date, lol:p) Feedback is appreciated.

Betas are also needed. :)


	2. Chapter Two:The Radio Call

**Sixteen**

**By Kari Izumi**

**Chapter Two: The Radio Call**

Sorry for the long wait, people! I've had a busy few weeks and this chapter was harder than I thought it would be to write. And thanks for all the reviews.

As usual, I own nothing but the fic.

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"Just why were you driving my car anyway?" Seto's voice was barely holding back the anger and frustration he was feeling at that moment. Not that anyone could see inside the tinted window of the limo, nor could the driver hear thought the privacy guard; but Mokuba knew his brother. He wanted to seem like he was in control of everything, regardless of whether anyone was looking.

"I put it in the shop, Nii-sama," Mokuba said heatedly. "You don't have to worry, everything's okay!"

"Like hell it is! How do you think it feels to be the last person to find out about this? You could have been hurt! Were you even going to tell me?"

Sitting on the other side of the limo facing Seto, Mokuba didn't respond, his eyes looking at his shoes. Of all the times to come back early from a trip, he _had _to pick this one, and he couldn't remember the last time he was so absolutely angry—and even more worrisome, Seto's voice carried a bit of frustration in it.

"Honestly, Mokuba, I'm disappointed in you," Seto said quietly. "You're a lot more responsible that you've been acting lately."

Mokuba's head snapped up and a flash of anger went through his eyes.

"So why am I'm still not allowed to go out anywhere without the damn bodyguards following me? Or go on a trip with my friends alone? Or…hmmm, live in Tokyo to go to school?"

Seto was quiet for a moment as he regained his composure. His eyes didn't betray whatever feelings he may have had about Mokuba's outspokenness.

"We've had this talk before, Mokuba. You're too young to be out on your own entirely, and going to school in another town, even a boarding school, can be tough. And your behavior lately isn't helping your case. You're my little brother and I'm going to take care of you."

Mokuba opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself, a scowl crossing his otherwise handsome face. When Seto was his age, he had taken over Kaiba Corp and faced down many dangerous people—and yet, he didn't think that he, Mokuba, could handle school in another town? It was incredibly shortsighted.

Nothing else was said between the two until the limo stopped at the Kaiba mansion. Mokuba got out first and headed up the stairs to his room without saying a word to Seto.

"Dinner will be in an hour," Seto called after him, but the only response he got was the sound of a slamming door. Mokuba wasn't interested in food in the least bit at that moment.

Falling onto his bed and landing on his stomach, Mokuba faced the large glass balcony door on the other side of his room. He grabbed a pillow to prop his head up with as he watched the sky change colors from the setting sun.

Mokuba knew he should be happy with his life; his brother was the wealthiest man in the world and had always been there to support him in just about any decision he made. He was very intelligent and got though schoolwork without breaking much of a mental sweat. And lately, he'd become somewhat of a local media darling--which was a big boost to his love life.

Most of the world knew him better as "Seto Kaiba's little brother." And the older he got, the more of a sore point it was to him.

Mokuba didn't love his brother any less nor was he ungrateful to him. And he was proud to have such a successful brother as Seto. But lately, it was starting to bother him more and more than people didn't know him for Mokuba Kaiba, the sixteen year old who loves music and playing guitar, the Vice President of Kaiba Corp (a position he had held since he was ten years old after that bastard Gozaburo did the world a favor and killed himself, leaving Seto in charge of the company). He wasn't just Kaiba's little brother.

_I'm not "little" anymore, period, _he thought bitterly. But even more bothersome than not being recognized by the world for who he was and not just who he happened to be related to, Seto didn't seem to see him as being anything but a kid either, for all the safety precautions he pushed on him.

Indeed, anyone who wanted to kidnap or otherwise harm Mokuba nowadays would have a hard time doing so. When his high school had done physical exams, even he was surprised that his height matched Seto's exactly--186 centimeters. He towered over his entire first year class and had stepped in more than once to stop little petty bullies from their torment.

Despite all of this, Seto still insisted he be escorted in and out the Kaiba Corp building, as well as when he visited Kaiba Land on any official business like tournaments. And his bodyguards came to school to pick him up.

"You don't know if or when someone has a loaded gun," Seto had told him the first time he complained about the bodyguards seven months ago. "Our unusual height makes it that much easier to pick out."

Mokuba had taken great delight in playing "Ditch the guards" at every opportunity after that, much to Isono's chagrin.

It felt really great when he turned sixteen and got his provisional license. The freedom of going anywhere without always having to tell someone felt like a breath of fresh air. His classmates from school, especially the girls, were impressed that he could drive.

Even if two-seaters weren't the most comfortable places in the world to make out.

He sighed at that thought. Mokuba wasn't going to have _any _fun for the next month. So much for a kick-ass summer break.

It wasn't fair. Hadn't he proven himself responsible all of his life? Hadn't he done a lot to show his brother he was capable of taking care of himself over the years? He certainly thought so. Mokuba had always done his part to help run the business, but lately, it wasn't enough just to do everything to make Seto happy, as important as he was to him still.

Mokuba wanted to do things he wanted.

Exactly who was he, anyway? Aside from Seto's cute little brother, who wasn't so little anymore?

He had found what he loved to do three years ago. Mokuba had signed up for beginning music at the start of junior high and started on violin--and he was absolutely terrible at it, no matter how hard he practiced. After about two months and little to show for it, Seto had hired a private tutor…one who, as it happened, also played guitar very well.

Suffice it to say, the guitar came much easier than the violin did.

His music was the reason why Mokuba had wanted to attend school in Tokyo…

_There's no point in thinking about that. It won't change anything. Maybe in two years, when it's time for college, Nii-sama will be a bit more open…_

More than anything in the world, Mokuba wanted to be seen for himself. The constant comparisons and references to Seto had long since grown tiresome. Many radio and TV shows noted he never dueled in any of his brother's tournaments, as if he were supposed to want to do everything Seto did. For all their closeness as brothers, they shared remarkably few interests.

_We're so different, we should belong in two different families, _he remarked to himself.

When he was a child, Seto nearly always took Mokuba on trips with him and they did just about everything together--which consisted mostly of a lot of work-related trips, though. Mokuba was content enough just to be at Seto's side during it all, even when he was bored at the board meetings and some of the older female business partners would coo at how adorably sweet he was.

He rarely thought about himself. Until now.

_I should be a bit selfish. Why shouldn't I be, I've been a good brother all these years, and I've never thought about what I want to do. Nii-sama is known to be a gaming genius, and I have to find my own talents._

_I can't be just Seto's little brother. I cannot. I _am _not._

But yet, no matter how much he wanted to distance himself, Mokuba couldn't help but to feel guilty for thinking that way. After everything Seto had to go through to give him the life he had now…did he have a right to protest?

With a sigh, he turned over and rubbed a hand though his dark locks before turning on the TV and flipping through the stations before he found something that was remotely interesting.

-----

"Oh, wow…that's such a great song, isn't it?" a perky and energetic radio DJ said to her co-anchor.

"Hmmm…it sure was!" an equally enthusiastic and husky male voice replied. "It's also at the top of the charts, pre-selling 5,000 copies and having many downloads off of iTunes!"

"Once again, this is the Morning Music Parade, with Shouji-Kun and Chiyoko-chan! Please enjoy one last song to end the ten o'clock hour with!" The female DJ, Chiyoko, chirped, and several seconds later, a chipper, bubble-gum pop chart began playing. Mokuba recognized it vaguely as the theme song to some anime, but he couldn't pinpoint the name of the show.

It was eleven in the morning the next day after Seto had returned home, and Mokuba was in his room on the computer. The radio was turned onto one of the most popular radio stations in Domino city. It was where he got his inspirations for the many guitar tabs he wrote in his spare time. Today, there was a half-hour segment called "Idol Rumor Report" that featured a lot of gossip on celebrities that was especially popular in school.

At the moment, Mokuba was busy looking over some of the e-mails that got sent from customers from the Kaiba Corp website:

_Hi Kaiba-san! These new lighter Duel Discs are so much easier to use, since I'm a somewhat small girl. BTW, you are very hot and--_

Assuming the letter was addressed to Seto and not him, Mokuba hit the delete button without bothering to read that very lengthy e-mail. He imagined it probably read like some of the hentai fanfiction he'd come across in his spare time.

_Damn, some people have no sense of decency._

At least it wasn't a letter like the one he came across last month where someone suggested that he and Seto looked cute together in _that_ way. Mokuba had nearly thrown up the sandwich he had just eaten at the thought of being with his brother. He clicked past about ten or fifteen more before coming across that addressed him personally:

_Hey, Mokuba-Kun! Look at me, I'm sending a letter to you from the website! Yay!_

The letter was from a classmate of his. As the email addresses themselves were kept private, Mokuba didn't know whom it could be, but he was used to this by now. He'd received at least one or two of these types of letters since grade school, including plenty of secret admirer letters.

If there was one thing that differentiated Mokuba from Seto, it was socializing. Mokuba loved parties. He was limited to the parties his friends hosted, since Seto wasn't keen on letting him host one; it had been enough of a struggle convincing him to have a private party at Kaiba Land when he turned thirteen.

Mokuba sighed. For a house of its size, it sure did get boring quickly. He couldn't even practice his guitar, since Seto had locked the door to his practice room and locked his guitar collection up with it; he'd tried going to the pool to cool off, but found the surrounding fence was also locked. Mokuba couldn't remember the last time, if ever, he had had a punishment that was so restrictive.

Then again, he couldn't remember a time when Seto was more pissed with him, either.

"…And now it's time for Idol Rumor Report!" A cheerful pop-type intro came on for a few seconds before Shouji started chatting about how a rock idol from a big-name group in Tokyo had married his long-time girlfriend, amidst rumors that said girl might be "in the family way." Mokuba didn't listen to the details, as he scanned through another twenty e-mails before he found something interesting that was worth reading:

_You Kaiba boys are hot!_

Beneath the words was a hyperlink to a photo of a very well endowed woman, wearing nothing but a well-placed Duel Disc across her chest. Mokuba felt his cheeks grow red and a nervous laugh escaped him before exiting the web browser.

"Yeah…umm…" Mokuba was tempted to forward the letter to Seto's official business email, just to see how he'd react to it. But Seto had been lecturing him as it was for being too girl crazy and decided wasn't a good idea to further piss him off if he wanted his cars back. With one last look at the photo, he hit the delete button.

"Hey, look at this e-mail!" Chiyoko squealed in excitement. "Seems like Seto Kaiba's little brother Mokuba is getting a reputation as a playboy, eh?"

His head snapped over in the direction of the radio. Was that his name he had heard on this show? No way. He'd heard Seto get a few mentions around the time of the last tournament he hosted at Kaiba Land last year, but he had never heard his name on this show before. Mokuba might have been a bit happier about this if this wasn't going to ruin his social life.

"Oh, shit," he muttered. But who could he have ticked off? Mokuba never had a real girlfriend and never really did more than make out with the girls he met at parties (much to his annoyance).

"Ooooh, this girl's really pissed off!" Shouji gleefully said. "Listen to this, folks:

'Last night, I was going to have a date with the wealthiest boy in town. I met him last week when he ran into my car…' Oooh, we missed that story, didn't we?"

"Oh, yeah, I read about it last night…but anyway…"

"Right… ' and was going to take me out to dinner to help make up for it…but the jerk didn't call me to say he wasn't coming and I still haven't heard from him! I hope all the women listening to this will take heed of this!'"

By this time, Mokuba's tanned face had turned beet red, and he had buried his head into his face. Amidst Seto's early homecoming and the lecture he received when they got home for crashing the car, Mokuba had completely forgotten about _that_. Not surprisingly, she was a more than a little upset at having been stood up for no reason. He didn't expect to be reminded about it over the damn radio.

This was easily the most humiliating moment in his entire life. Before that, it was the time in the Legendary Heroes virtual game where he came across a Princess character with was the splitting image of him, adorned in the frilliest dress he'd ever seen. Mokuba didn't think much of it at the time because Seto was in danger…but looking back, it wasn't something he'd be eager to share with anyone.

_At least that wasn't being broadcast for everyone to hear, _he thought. _I wanted to be distinguished from Nii-sama, but couldn't I have had something else besides this?_ His first thought was to call up the show and clarify what exactly had happened. It was a mix-up, it happens to everyone, right?

But no. Seto always told him to let the PR agent do the speaking for them in such matters and keep up their image. Mokuba had always hated that; he liked being able to say what he wanted.

"Well," Chiyoko started up, "At least we all know that the younger Kaiba-kun is interested in the fairer sex. Has his brother ever had a love interest?"

"None I've heard of," Shouji replied. "Now that you mention it, he really doesn't come off as being very friendly."

And much to his great annoyance, the two of them got into a rather long discussion about how it could be that someone as rich and powerful ("And so hot!" Chiyoko added with extra enthusiasm, as Mokuba stifled a few gagging noises) as Seto Kaiba couldn't find himself a special somebody.

"Every girl in town…no, this country," Shouji corrected himself, "would jump at the chance to date him, but it doesn't seem like he's not even taking the bait!"

"And with the business trips he makes, you think he maybe has a few girls overseas we don't know about?"

Mokuba let out a snort. And just how did the discussion get turned around from his love life to Seto's anyway? This sort of thing no longer surprised him, but it still managed to bother him a bit. Mokuba had momentarily forgotten the reason for his name being a hot topic was not one he should necessarily be proud of.

"Or maybe Seto Kaiba-san just may not like women, hmmm…he's got lots of money, who knows what he can cover up!"

Mokuba glared at the radio just then, his irritation subsiding for the moment and being taken over by indignance. Who gave them the right to say like that? Where did he come up to that conclusion?

Chiyoko gasped in between her giggles. "Shouji-kun, you shouldn't say that on the air!"

"It's not like Seto Kaiba is actually listening to this or anything…"

Even when he was younger, misinformed comments about Seto always hurt Mokuba. Seto drowned them out because he had to, but he wasn't able to forget that sort of thing so easily. Mokuba knew why Seto was the way he was, and no one got to say such things about _his_ brother, ever.

_Wait…I'm old enough to clear things up, _Mokuba said decidedly. _I don't even need to tell Nii-sama about it._

It took all of thirty seconds for Mokuba to get the number of the radio station. The phone rang twice before he heard a deep, gravelly voice on the other end answer. "Hell, this is--"

"Where's the manager?" Mokuba snapped.

"Ummm….er, this is him, sir...how may I help you--"

"Put me on the air this minute!" The tone of voice sounded a lot like Seto's at that moment.

The man chuckled nervously. "Um, I'm sorry, sir, may I ask who this is?"

"This is the Vice President of Kaiba Cooperation ready to sue for slander. Now put me on the air. Or would you like to talk to a lawyer?" Mokuba had no intention of suing anyone, but the man got the message loud and clear and no more questions were asked. Being the Vice President of the company sure did have its upside every now and again.

_Gee, I really_ am _turning into Nii-sama._

"…as of right now, no one is commenting on the pictures that were taken of the Parliament member outside of a love hotel in Osaka." Chiyoko had just ended a story that Mokuba had not paid the least amount of attention to.

"He wouldn't be the first high-ranking official to be into Loli-con…ooh, our manager says he have a very special person that wants to speak to us." Shouji paused as apparently the manager told him who it was. "Hey folks, it's none other than the Vice President of Kaiba Corp himself, Mokuba Kaiba-san!"

"I wouldn't be so cheerful, if I were you," retorted Mokuba. No one heard him, as he was still on hold. The music on the other end of the line turned off as Shouji's voice connected him to the phone a few seconds later. "Hi, there, how are you today?"

The voice he responded with was uncharacteristically sharp. "I heard your stupid ass comment about my brother."

"Oh…umm…" Chiyoko's apparent nervousness passed in a few seconds, as she pretended to be in control. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean! That remark about my brother 'not being into women.' That one!"

More nervous laughter followed.

"Well…um, we are very sorry about that, Kaiba-san…" Shouji replied after a few seconds "We didn't mean--"

"For me to hear it? Yeah, I guess you are very sorry." Mokuba couldn't help but wonder how far both their jaws dropped at hearing "Seto Kaiba's little brother" speak to them in such a way. "You two know nothing about our lives or the way we were raised! Nii-sama doesn't socialize because he has to work! You think you'd always party if you'd been at work for twelve hours and have to run a multi-trillion yen company? So please, do shut the fuck up about topics you two know nothing about."

In the background, Mokuba swore he heard something fall onto the floor.

"Well now, Kaiba-kun, now that we've cleared that up…tell us…is there a special person in your brother's life, hmmm?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "That's really none of your concern, Chiyoko. You want to talk to my brother, ask _him _for an interview." Not that Seto would give anyone the time of day for that, even if he had the time for it.

But Chiyoko hadn't gotten the hint. "Aw, come on, tell us!" she continued to fake whine, which irked the dark haired boy even more. The grip on the small cell phone grew even tighter and his teeth tensed up. "We all know you two are so close--"

_You don't know a damn thing about me._

"--After all, you're his little--"

The rest of Chiyoko's sentence went unheard and the pent up frustration that the younger Kaiba had been feeling for months finally spilled over.

"DAMNIT, I'M TIRED OF YOU PEOPLE ALWAYS ASKING ME ABOUT SETO! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I'M NOT JUST HIS LITTLE BROTHER! I HAVE MY OWN INTERESTS, TOO!"

"Kaiba-kun," Shouji tried to intervene, but it was in vain.

"Exactly how dense do you have to be to not to ask questions about the 'scandal' you were just reporting on when the guy you're talking about calls in on the same damn show?"

"Oh…um…"Chikoyo stammered. If there was one thing Mokuba knew from working, it was that no one liked being told how to do their jobs.

"If you had bothered to ask me," Mokuba said, with more than a twinge of exasperation, "I'd have told you that I didn't mean to stand her up, but that Seto grounded me for wrecking his car last Thursday. And I'm sorry about both of those things. But as usual, everything I do gets overshadowed by him!"

A voice in the back of his head said, _this sounds really bratty, you know_. Mokuba ignored it.

"I do a lot of things to help run the company, and I never get any acknowledgement about that! For once, I'd like to be recognized by the world for the things I do and not just who I happen to be related to! Damn!"

Hastily, Mokuba hit the "end" button on the phone and flung it across the room. It hit the wall with a dull THUD and fell into a corner behind the dresser. He didn't feel a bit sorry for what he said. Not only did no one get anything right about Seto, they can't even be assed enough to even bother talking to him or asking anything about his life.

_Screw them._

Meanwhile, the sound of a disconnected phone was all to be heard from the radio, and Mokuba had a quick moment of delight imagining the shocked expressions on their faces. Apparently, the two DJs could shut the fuck up. Good.

"Well…" Shouji stammered.

"Ummm…Oh, look at that, here's a nice new track from the J-Rock group--"

Mokuba hastily grabbed the remote to turn off the radio. He'd had enough of the media for one day. Needless to say, he wouldn't be tuning in to the Morning Music Parade or Idol Report for a very long time.

A soft knock came from the door. "Mokuba-sama?" said the voice of a maid he knew to be named Tomoe. She had been there ever since the day he and Seto had been adopted by Gozaburo, and was the closest thing to a mother figure he'd had in his life. "Are you alright? I thought I heard you yelling earlier."

A sigh escaped his throat. "I'm fine."

"Lunch should be ready in an hour. I've also got your laundry here. May I come in and put it away?"

"Sure, whatever."

The door swung open and a middle-aged woman with gray streaks in her black hair walked in carrying a basket full of his clothing. She set the basket down by his dresser and proceeded to fold Mokuba's garments and store them away. Not feeling much like looking through the fan mail anymore (little of which would be addressed to or about him anyway), Mokuba got up from his chair, and went to lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh, my, you've grown so much this year, Mokuba-sama," she cooed and chuckled softly to herself. "I remember you being so scared when you first came here, and now look at you, you're at tall as--"

"Ni-sama?" he replied, irritated.

"I was going to say as tall like those American basketball players…but come to think of it, I almost did mistake you for Kaiba-sama a few nights ago when you came home real late. The lights downstairs in the hall were nearly all turned off, since I was on my way out. Then I realized he was away out of town. Hmm…"

Mokuba mentally shook his head, not being sure how anyone could mistake him for Seto, even in the dark. He didn't have a taste for long, flowing dusters that seemed to flair out, even if there was no wind present. But he was fond of Tomoe, so it let the issue go.

"It's so early in the day, and summer break's just started," Tomoe noticed. "Why aren't you out having a good time?"

"I'm grounded for messing up Nii-sama's car last week and not telling him 'bout it," he replied coolly. "Took my keys and my debit card and locked up the practice room, too."

"Oh, my, that is too bad. I'm sure Kaiba-sama will ease up on you…you're still a sweet little kid."

Tomoe turned her back to the teen, who glared at her and was mentally screaming, _I am not a kid anymore!!!_

The room was silent again, and Mokuba was glad for it. By tomorrow, he knew there'd be tons of talk about his impromptu interview all over the media. And then he'd hear from Seto about how he wasn't being responsible enough and not acting properly when he called into to defend him in the first place. He couldn't win, either way.

The minutes ticked away in silence during which Mokuba thought of all the things that could go even more wrong this week. His thoughts were eventually interrupted when his cell phone rang from behind the dresser where it had fallen. It was a new type of phone, where one could program different songs for each different contact in the address book. The particular song that was playing was used for one person on his contacts.

Seto.

Knowing that nothing good would come of answering the phone, Mokuba didn't bother to get up for it. Unfortunately, Tomoe stopped her work to grab the phone before he was able to tell her to ignore it. "I wonder how you got it all the way over here. Oh look, it's your brother."

_Well, no point in putting off the inevitable_, he resigned himself. Mokuba got up from the bed and took the phone out to the balcony before answering it.

"N-nii-sama…"Mokuba stammered.

"Get to my office in thirty minutes," Seto said in a sharp and quiet tone of voice, "or I'll extend your grounding for another month."

Before Mokuba had a chance to get a word in edgewise, the phone cut off. Seto definitely knew; even by his standards, his voice was way too calm. Mokuba knew his brother better than to assume this was an empty threat—especially not after last night. Jamming the phone into his front pocket, he ran back into the room, running past a confused Tomoe. "Gotta go," he called to her before running into the hallway and down the really long staircase to the front door. Hastily, he called for the driver to come around with the limo, and Mokuba didn't waste any time jumping into it.

"Where to, sir?" said the driver.

"Kaiba Corp," Mokuba replied. "And step on it."

This day was getting worse and worse, and it wasn't even noon yet. To make things even worse, by the time they pulled up to the Kaiba Corp building, Mokuba heard a loud rumbling that came from his stomach, since he hadn't eaten anything since last evening. He'd have to deal with his hunger later.

"Sir…" said the driver, "should I drop you off at the back entrance?"

Mokuba was about to ask why he had asked, until he saw a group of reporters, all trying to push their way into the lobby of the building. The PR agent looked very hassled as (Mokuba assumed) he tried to tell them that no one was about to comment on anything.

_Nii-sama can't possibly be happy about that._

"Do you have to ask?"

-----

Five minutes later, the elevator stopped at the last floor of the building. Only a select few employees ever got to see this floor, as the only offices here was that which belonged to the young CEO and Vice-President of Kaiba Corp.

Mokuba hesitated outside of Seto's office for a few moments. Boy, he didn't want to be here…but he figured the sooner he got this over with, the sooner the knots in his stomach would leave. With a sigh, he opened the door and stepped in.

Across from him sat Seto sitting up stiffly in his seat with his hands folding onto his desk; his eyes had a steel-like quality to them and they were fixed right on Mokuba. Even in the plain blue suit he wore today instead of his usual long white duster, his presence was so very large against the huge window that showed the clear summer sky. Mokuba gulped and stood right where he was.

Seto paid no heed to the younger boy's discomfort as he gestured toward a chair on the other side of his desk. "Sit down, Mokuba. We need to talk."

After being in the business world since he was sixteen and being coached into his role with particularly harsh methods for six years before, Seto had long since learned to control his emotions when dealing with clients; his reputation for his apparent lack of emotion was infamous in the business world. The only person who could read though his exterior was Mokuba. Today was no exception, and he could clearly see Seto was not in a calm mood at the moment. Mokuba found his legs would not budge one centimeter and his mouth had gone a little dry.

"I won't repeat myself again," Seto spoke again; this time, he struggled to veil his agitation. "Sit down. Now."

"Ummm...yes, Nii-sama." Mokuba quickly bowed and took a few long strides to reach the chair. He felt Seto's eyes watching him as he sat down and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, and kept his eye focused on a Blue Eyes White Dragon paperweight that was right on a stack of papers the right hand side of Seto's desk. Mustering up his most cheerful smile, even though it probably looked as fake as he felt at the moment, Mokuba said, "Gee…great day today, eh?"

The next moment, Mokuba felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he jumped back into his seat slightly as Seto slammed his hands flat onto the desk. The force of the slam caused the paperweight Mokuba had been eyeing to topple over on its side. Seto stood up; or rather, he jumped straight up out of his chair and leaned towards Mokuba. His normally stone face was absolutely livid.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU LATELY?!"

If this were a scene from an anime, Mokuba thought, the background would be a bright shade of red and Seto would be fifty feet tall. Mokuba tried tentatively to open his mouth to speak, but words escaped him at that moment, having been sufficiently shocked. After a moment, Seto sat back down in his seat, his voice back to the usual calm he always showed.

"Do you know how completely stupid that was on the radio? As if it helps that you're already in the newspaper for your little accident from last week--"

"Nii-sama--" His soft voice went unheard.

"--and now, you're getting a reputation as a horny little--" Seto cut himself off and took in two deep breaths. He rarely allowed himself to swear so freely; another skill that he had so forcefully learned all those years ago. Mokuba tried to speak again.

"Did you even hear what those fools were saying about you?"

"I know what they were saying, Mokuba, the PR agents told me everything." Seto sighed. "People will always say misinformed things, but showing it affects you doesn't change anything."

"Yeah, well it _does_ affect me! I've had to listen to everyone say stuff about you that isn't true. And I did something about it this time." Mokuba looked down at his folded hands and sighed. "What was I supposed to do, keep hearing that bullshit--"

"Watch you language," Seto reminded him sharply.

"That stuff about you? And about me, trying to make me out like I stood a girl up on purpose--"

"That's another thing I've been meaning to talk to you about."

Mokuba's eyes widened and stuck his tongue out in disgust. "God, _no_! I already know about sex!"

He remembered the last discussion they'd had on sex about three years ago. It hadn't been a particularly comfortable subject for either of them, and neither was willing to bring the subject up to the other again.

"That wasn't what I was going to talk about," Seto said, and Mokuba uttered a sigh of relief, "but I'm concerned you aren't as picky about the company you keep as you should be. How well do you know the girls you see?"

Mokuba laughed nervously. "I met one or two through a friend."

It was partially true. If Seto believed him or not, he couldn't quite tell; Seto had never been keen on the idea that Mokuba should date at all while in high school.

"One or two?"

"Aww, come on!" Mokuba groused. "I want to be able to have fun like everyone else I know! I can't help that the girls like me. I've always been the cute one, you know that."

"Hmphf," was Seto's only response. "First of all, you're not like everyone else. You never will be and you shouldn't try to be what other people want you to be. And for another, you don't know any of these girls too well, so you can't possibly judge their character. Like the one that wrote into the radio station."

Well…he had a point there.

"You've broken your curfew quite a few times recently with your club--"

"We were just practicing our music, Nii-sama!" Mokuba retorted. It was true they were rehearsing…for the most part.

"And setting yourself up to get into trouble," Seto finished. "I'm not stupid. And neither are you, which is why I called you here in the first place."

"Hold on…you didn't bring me in to yell about the radio call?" Mokuba was sure he was going to get yelled at for that.

"There's no point in lecturing about something you should already know. Life itself is the best teacher and you're much too intelligent for that. I assume you don't need me to tell you what you did was wrong. Here." Seto placed a manila folder that had been sitting on his desk this whole time into Mokuba's hands. He opened it up to reveal several pages of a stock report; this particular report was mostly focused on the Kaiba Land theme park.

"Looks like it hasn't been a good quarter this spring," Mokuba noted. "But it's the summer, things always pick back up."

"It's not just that, Mokuba. Duel Disc sales are declining as well and so is Duel Monsters merchandise."

"But the Duel Academy attendance is growing each year," Mokuba pointed out--a fact that had surprised even him, who had been one of the biggest skeptics for that idea initially.

Seto nodded, but his eyes were still a bit worried. "That won't continue to be the case if the popularity of the game keeps falling. But that's where you come in."

Mokuba blinked in puzzlement. "What?"

"It's quite simple, really. I thought about commissioning someone else for this, but I heard some of the things you said on the radio today and thought you'd be more suited for this."

"I'm confused," Mokuba stated flatly. If anything, he would have thought Seto would keep him out of anything related to Kaiba Corp merchandise; his image in the media had been less than perfect lately.

"I'll explain it then. Kaiba Land needs a boost in ticket sales this quarter to help off-set some of the costs, and I want you to figure out a way how to do so."

"Me?" This was the sort of thing Seto loved doing himself—coming up with the big ideas that got his name in the newspapers; using the genius that had made him famous.

"Yes, you," Seto said. He was dead serious, and there was no changing his mind once it was made up. "Wasn't it you that suggested we add rides to the park when you were nine? I'd say that turned out well."

How could he help boost popularity of Duel Monsters? Mokuba didn't even have his own deck (an ironic fact, since Seto owned nearly ever card ever made), and the closest he'd even gotten to a real duel was five years ago at Duelist Kingdom where he stole some kid's deck to challenge Yuugi to avenge Seto's honor after he lost to him. He wasn't even challenged by any of the Big Five when Noa trapped most the contestants of the Battle City finals in his virtual world.

Mokuba was quiet in thought. Seto was going to let _him_ decide an entire project on his own? He was no stranger to organizing events, but usually, it was doing phone calls and contacts to gather people for something Seto was organizing. He was the commissioner during Battle City, but as he was barely five feet tall at the time, he had a hard time on a few occasions with people not taking him very seriously without Seto stepping in. He had helped his brother out a lot, but coming up with a whole event entirely was something different.

"Are you saying…you want me to plan a dueling event to boost ticket sales?"

"Who said anything about dueling?" Seto asked and walked over Mokuba's chair. "I told you, the idea is entirely yours. You've been asking for this for months."

"I have?"

Seto nodded. " I can't blame you for wanting your own identity. I'm the last one to tell you not to go out and prove yourself to the world. It's the least I can do, since you didn't ask for me to become a household name by taking down a megalomaniac." His voice went icy cool at the end of that sentence, as it always did where the issue of Gozaburo came up."But if you want to be known for who you are and not just for being my brother, you should show the world that in a more…positive way. Not just for being headstrong and stupid. You're better than that."

Mokuba nodded slightly, being glad of the fact that his brother didn't think he was _entirely_ a kid. Still, he would much rather make a name for himself entirely on his own…no help from anyone. Like Seto had done.

And yet, it wasn't like he was going to be busy with anything else this summer break.

"When do we start?" he asked.

"Right now," Seto said. "I need a business plan from you by Monday."

"Monday?" Mokuba asked in disbelief. Today was already Saturday. "How am I supposed to work that fast?"

"Because it's summer, and you have nothing else to do being on punishment." Mokuba sometimes grew annoyed with Seto and his straightforwardness. His annoyance faded when he saw Seto pull out what appeared to be his pocket change--about eight 10,000 yen bills--and place them in his hands, and Mokuba placed the folder in his to place the bills in his pocket. "You had better make that last for this month. Which reminds me, where did you take my car to get it fixed? I'd like it back soon."

Mokuba whipped out his phone to copy down the phone number to the shop. He was glad to see his brother back to the curt person he knew him to be and not flat-out pissed off.

"I don't see why you'd put up with people accusing you of being…you know…" Mokuba said casually as he handed the number to him.

"Let them make up their stories. We know the truth."

Mokuba finished writing down the number and address on a Kaiba Corp notepad. "You know, it probably wouldn't hurt if you did get a girl."

"It probably wouldn't," said Seto, his eyes devoid in any interest in the topic. "But who exactly would I date? Most people I know bore me."

Mokuba laughed and leaned an arm on Seto's shoulder. "You don't think you half this town would jump up at the change to date the fabulously wealthy Seto Kaiba? And who says you have to be interested enough to date for --?"

"Says me," the disaffected older Kaiba remarked nonchalantly and pushed Mokuba's arm off his shoulder. Joking aside, Mokuba did worry Seto spent too much time alone working, save for the rare duel competitions. He also knew socializing and being friendly wasn't one of his brother's fortes, and that years of people being untrustworthy had made him more than a bit gun-shy, no matter how much Seto would deny it. He watched as Seto glanced at his wristwatch. "It's time for lunch. I'm sure you're hungry."

As if on cue, Mokuba heard his stomach let out another long growl. He grinned sheepishly.

Even though his hunger, the thought of the project was already taking over his mind. What could he, Mokuba Kaiba, possibly do to bring in new customers to the park? And in only a weekend? Then again, stranger things had happened—Mokuba had seen plenty of _that_ in his sixteen years.

TBC

----

Author's note: Thanks be, I'm finally done with this chapter, after five complete re-writes. The original concept for this chapter was, quite frankly…embarrassing horrid. Anyone who loves the Kaiba brothers' dynamic would have shat kittens and puppies with my other idea. Anyway…

-In case it wasn't clear in the context of the story, summer break in Japan is, on average, about a month, from mid-July to mid-August. Not the three-month long affair it is in the states. In other words, a one-month punishment in the summer is REALLY killer (Poor Mokuba :( ).

-All the OC names are indeed real Japanese names. And Isono is Roland, BTW.

Okay, I think I covered everything. Next chapter will see some momentum in the story.


	3. Chapter Three: Growing Up Kaiba

**Sixteen **

**By Kari Izumi**

**Chapter Three: Growing Up Kaiba**

I re-loaded this chapter to clean it up a bit. I have a tendancy to rush through things and not catch all the grammar issues, no matter how many times I look through a page. I assure you it's not laziness, and please bear with me. I hope you enjoy ithis chapter a bit better.

To keep it short (Because the long version's at the bottom), I own nothing but the fic.

-----

"Honestly, Mokuba, I've told you this for the last eleven years I've known you! You can't just say anything you want because you feel like it!"

It was the next morning, and both Seto and Mokuba were at the Kaiba Corp headquarters, in Seto's office. Mokuba was in his best suit, a dark gray one with an azure silk shirt. Across from him, Seto sat at his desk, his face showing no emotion as usual, but Mokuba could tell just the same that his brother wasn't going to jump to his aide and defend him from the lecture he was getting from their public relations agent, a short, middle-aged and balding man by the name of Akiyama Satou. For all of Seto's words the day before about life being the best teacher, Mokuba wondered why he was letting this old git yammer on at all.

Satou continued to pace up and down the floor as he spoke with a copy of that morning's newspaper containing an article entitled "Kaiba's Brother Explodes!" in one hand. The article had grossly exaggerated the account of Mokuba's radio debut, which he had tried to explain to Satou to no avail.

"I thought you'd know by now that you need to consider your image at _all_ times," Satou continued. "You're not like other kids your age. You have responsibilities—to this company, to your brother—this sort of thing doesn't reflect well on him…"

Mokuba turned his focus elsewhere. This speech was never about what his behavior did to his image--_always_ about how it made Seto look, as if the two shared one body. It was in no small part one of the reasons Mokuba had wanted to attend high school well away from Kaiba Corp and Domino City. He doubted anyone would truly see him for his own person otherwise.

" I don't need to tell you that these stories make the company look bad!" he concluded.

"Why not pay the press to shut up?" said Mokuba suddenly.

Seto shot back a very disapproving look at him.

"Like you've never thought about that before!"

Satou stood with his arms folded and shook his head. "You really need to change your image. It's not good for the Vice President of a children's gaming company to be seen with a new girlfriend every other week--"

Sighing, Mokuba slumped back in his chair.

"I don't _have _a new girlfriend 'every other week'. I go on dates like every other normal person my age. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Satou sighed in frustration. "What is wrong with that is you have a media that follows your every move and your brother's as well. What you do and don't do is noted, as I'm sure you're well aware of after yesterday morning."

Mokuba grew quiet, and the evil glare he gave Satou did not go unnoticed.

"Well, I mean, I know it can be hard _not _to date, with so many girls at your feet," Satou added with a slight chuckle as he begin to fidget with the newspaper. "I think I can understand the feeling…back in my day, I had a lot of girls too--"

"Get to the point, "Seto interrupted, casting a cold stare at the short, balding man. He hated when people rambled on too much, and hated it even more when the rambling was on subjects he didn't think Mokuba needed to hear.

"Oh, um…" Satou cleared his throat before continuing. "Well…just be careful. You're rich and--"

"And girls would take advantage of that? Duh. I'm not that stupid or naïve," Mokuba finished, being irritated by the perceived insult to his intelligence. He had learned as much the first night Gozaburo brought them home from the orphanage. "Besides, it's not that easy to get someone that's worth the time."

Seto sat up in his seat. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"Oh...well, pretty much any girl who isn't a fangirl or super clingy or has illusions of me being able have tons of free time to spend with them."

Seto relaxed a little.

"But I don't mind," Mokuba added, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. "I still have lots of girls who don't want full time boyfriends, either, so why limit myself? I can still give them a great night on the town and afterwards, we can--"

The room grew quiet as he felt Seto's eyes boring into him.

"Can _not_ have sex," Mokuba concluded lamely. Seto continued to glare. "Well, it's the truth!"

It _was_ true…technically. Mokuba was sixteen, after all—he liked fooling around with girls, even if he didn't let himself go as far as actual sex. But Seto didn't need to know any specific details about that aspect of his life, as there was no chance of Mokuba making him an uncle any time soon.

Satou cleared his throat and Seto and Mokuba turned to look in his direction. "Should I see myself out?"

Seto shook his head. "I need you to schedule a press conference for this Tuesday."

"Yes, Kaiba-sama, but if you don't mind my asking, what for?"

"Mokuba and I discussed a way he'll be spending his time this summer that will help bring a more positive image to this company. It involves generating more sales into Kaiba land."

"We'll let you know what it is tomorrow," Mokuba added.

Not even he knew what the idea would be. Giveaways and contests seemed way too gimmicky and would only boost sales for a very little while before the same decline in sales began again. Whatever the idea was, it needed to reach more than just the usual Duel Monsters enthusiasts who would come and pay money here, no matter what the event was. If possible, the idea could be something that could be done more than once.

"I'll get right on that, sirs," Satou replied. "I've said all I needed to say for now. I'll see you two later, then. Under better circumstances, I assume." He shot a stern glance in Mokuba's direction as he left.

Seto opened his laptop, as if nothing had happened.

"Gee, it's always fun to hear from Satou-san," Mokuba said a bit sarcastically. He got up and walked to the coffee pot near the door and poured himself a cup. "It's like listening to a broken record."

"I told you pretty much said the same thing to you yesterday," Seto commented, "and I hope you listen for your own sake. Being wild doesn't suit you."

Mokuba took a sip of his coffee. "I'm not wild and out of control. I just like having fun."

Seto looked up from his computer. " And by fun, you mean driving as fast as your car can go and staying out past curfew? Fooling around with a different girl every week?"

Mokuba opened his mouth to speak, but got cut off.

"Yes, I know that's what you do—I don't know how far you've gone. Please…don't tell me any details, I really don't want that image in my mind."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "I haven't done anything worth bragging about."

"And what about your friend from the music club at school…Yagami? The two of you get into your share of trouble together."

"He's not that bad, Nii-sama!" Mokuba protested.

"He's a bad influence on you, and hardly worth the time and effort you spend with him. I've lost track of how many times you've missed your curfew every time you two go out at night."

Kaoru Yagami was a loaded subject between the Kaiba brothers. Although Kaoru was two years older than Mokuba was, the two became friends fairly quickly after meeting in the music club, with Mokuba helping Kaoru in English (which he had been fluent in since he was ten), and Kaoru helping him out in his own area of expertise—fun. He was nearly the exact opposite of Seto—he loved parties and socializing and didn't work himself too hard in school. Most of the third year girls had their eyes on Kaoru, but he didn't seem to bother much with any of them. Mokuba assumed it was either because he'd rather keep his options open or he had connections with college-aged girls. He was also one of the few people in his life that he knew wasn't hanging around him just because he was famous.

Seto disapproved of him almost from the beginning; but oddly enough, he had never outright told him not to talk to Kaoru. Mokuba was still uncertain why Seto never put his foot down but he never wanted to tempt fate by asking why. Perhaps Seto thought he would just go behind his back if he did that, which would be a sign of him not being in control—and thus, he voiced his opinion to Mokuba, but did nothing to forbid it.

Mokuba let the subject drop with a sigh. There was no use in trying to change his mind on the matter.

Seto, who was now accessing his email message center, spoke again. "Since you're already here at the office, you might want to catch up on any work you're behind on."

"Naw, I'm not behind on anything here," he replied. Mokuba got up and headed towards the office door. "I'm gonna go over to Kaiba Land for a bit...to get some ideas about the project."

Seto looked up from the computer and nodded. "Be home for dinner tonight. And don't draw any more attention to yourself today," he added sternly before going back to typing away at the computer.

"What can I get into at Kaiba Land?"

"I'm sure you know all the great places to bring girls to make out," he said with a tone that, for Seto at least, implied a bit of teasing.

"Gee, Nii-sama, I'm not going to do _that_ at Kaiba land. Again."

Seto's eyes widened slightly, but Mokuba had already ducked out the room.

-----

Mokuba was glad when the evening came. He lay on top of the covers on his bed, flipping though the stations on the 120-centimeter wide Plasma television mounted up on the wall across from him. Despite having cable access, it wasn't often that he had time just to do simple things like watch television.

To the left of his gigantic bed was his oversized computer desk, where his schoolbooks lay on the desk on the right side of the monitor. A chemistry book was at the top of the stack, half-opened to a set of questions. Mokuba was thankful that his teacher was allowing him to make up some of the points that he'd lost for bombing his last test two weeks ago. He should have been able to pass that test, but had been having too much of a good time that previous weekend to study. When his teacher asked him about it, Mokuba blamed it on having a deadline to meet at Kaiba Corp. This particular teacher, who had had Seto in her class five years earlier, was sympathetic enough.

"It's amazing you boys manage to keep your grades as high as they are," she had commented. "I remember your brother had 100 percent for the whole year, though…"

Mokuba gritted his teeth at the memory. He didn't have a grade of 100 percent, but it was still the top of his class, and in a subject like chemistry, most of his classmates were happy enough if they got enough points to pass. With a grade of 95 percent, Mokuba had more than enough points so that one failed test wouldn't screw him up completely. But he'd make the points up anyway.

"And finally tonight, a bit of news on the Vice President and younger brother to Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corporation, Mokuba-"

He didn't bother watching the rest of the segment. Between Satou's lecture that morning, three other news programs and no fewer than five phone calls from various friends, Mokuba had grown sick of the subject and flipped the TV over to a station airing an American sitcom that had been dubbed over into Japanese.

At that moment, his cell phone rang. Mokuba was glad for the distraction. "Hey."

A cheerful and rather mischievous voice answered, "Hey, Mokuba! I thought you were coming to my party last night!" It was Kaoru Yagami.

"My brother came home early. Found out about the car. Not to mention that thing on the radio yesterday." Mokuba told him.

He could hear Kaoru let out a chuckle. "Oh, right…yeah, cussing out two radio personalities, everyone heard about that. A lot of people here were hoping to ask you about that."

"Yeah?" Mokuba sat up a bit straighter in the bed, wanting ask Kaoru more about what people were saying. He didn't feel exactly proud of his action, yet he couldn't help but enjoy the thought that, for the time being, the focus was solely on him.

"Yeah, sure. You're not like Kaiba at all. He's probably never even been on a date."

"Well, he's not _that_ anti social…just private." Mokuba had often commented to Seto about his lack of socializing, but it stung when others pointed it out. No one besides Yuugi and his lot of friends knew any of the details of their private lives, or why Seto had become the way he was, and even that was because there was no other way of avoiding the subject at that moment. He quickly changed the subject. "So, how was the party last night?"

"I don't remember that much of it, actually. I think I passed out after drinking a bottle of sake."

Mokuba shook his head. He was into a lot of things, but using drugs and getting completely wasted was not his idea of fun. What was point of doing something he couldn't remember later on?

"…but the parts I do remember were great! Man, you really should've been here!" Kaoru exclaimed. "One of my brothers brought a few girls from his college over. This one girl…wow, she knew a lot about...well, you know…" He then went on recapping the rest of his night with "this one girl," some of the details of which brought a faint blush to Mokuba's cheeks.

"Um…wow, that sounds...um, great…"

"You bet it was! All those videos my brothers gave me paid off!" Kaoru said cheekily. "It's too bad you weren't there, you would've enjoyed the company, Mr. Make-out Artist."

_He knew more about girls at eighteen than Seto did at twenty-one_, Mokuba thought. He wanted to turn to Seto first for that sort of thing, but Mokuba doubted he knew anything about sex besides what he'd learn in health class. Kaoru, on the other hand, was more than willing to share tips with anyone who asked—although some of his suggestions were a bit too perverted for his tastes.

And unlike Seto, Kaoru's older brothers acted just as older brothers and his father was often too drunk from having to socialize with business partners to meddle much in his life. Seto was a good brother, and no one he knew was closer to their siblings—which was a mixed blessing. was paranoid that Mokuba would get hurt by something and would have guards watch him take a piss if he could. But Mokuba knew full well he could take care of himself. He didn't need babysitters anymore.

"Hiroyuki got a tattoo last night, too," Kaoru said.

"Him?!" Mokuba gasped. "Really, did you see?"

Hiroyuki was a rather quiet second-year student who was also a member of the music club, intent on taking the entrance exams for Tokyo University and joining a long line of family members who had graduated from that university. Mokuba was rather surprised he of all people would do something like that.

"Yep, he lost playing poker with my brother, and so we all went to a tattoo parlor downtown—we couldn't find it at first, because it was underground—and he got it done. I'm surprised he went through with it, Hiro-kun seemed so scared about it at first."

"What did he get a tattoo of?"

"Nothing bad, just a small little star design on his lower back so no one could see it. By no one, I mean his folks."

Mokuba was glad not to be in his classmate's position at all. Hiroyuki had an older sister who was disowned for marrying a man they didn't like. For his sake, Mokuba hoped his parents never found out…Seto was not the most outwardly and amiable of guardians, but the younger Kaiba was sure he'd never get disowned for doing something his brother didn't necessarily approve of.

"Hey, I just remembered," said Kaoru. "How'd you like that video I gave you last week?"

Mokuba's cheeks grew a bit warm at the thought.

"Oh…ummm, I've been too busy to actually watch it yet..."

Mokuba gave a quick glance over in the direction of his DVD player, and the innocent-looking DVD box on top of it. The title box had some photo of a samurai anime on the cover to hide its true contents, in case anyone (namely Seto) came into his room when he wasn't here. Not that Seto made a habit of coming into his room to snoop, but it was better not to have a DVD title like that laying in his room at all.

"Too busy? Man, I would find the time if I were you!" Before Mokuba had a chance to comment, Kaoru said, "Hey, I gotta go. See ya in school!"

"Yeah, sure," Mokuba replied, and the connection went dead. Placing the phone in its charger on the nightstand, he looked at the clock that sat next to it; the time displayed 10:40. Mokuba rubbed a hand through his hair, like he always did when he had something big on his mind.

He sighed. That business plan was still due tomorrow. His walk through Kaiba Land hadn't helped him very much. The park was pretty crowded by the time he got there, making it hard to think about anything.

On top of that, he got a call from Seto two hours later, asking him to help him with some of his workload. Mokuba got to the office, only to discover that he wanted him to help with the paper work—a task Seto usually did himself because Mokuba hated it. If Mokuba knew better, he'd swear Seto did it to irk him, but he knew his brother was not one to keep on punishing people.

_I really need to get to bed, _Mokuba told himself. There was no use trying to stay up and work on an idea he didn't even have. Mokuba's mind couldn't work on a project with unrelenting passion for three days straight, like he'd seen Seto do many times in the past. He pulled off his t-shirt and threw it on the floor, then went to lock the door before he turned the DVD player on.

He reached for Kaoru's DVD and opened it up, his cheeks turning a little pink at the title--_Hot Bath, Hot Love. _Mokuba had never really watch _that_ kind of movie before. He'd seen a very uncensored sex scene once in an American film on TV when he was eleven; he was no stranger to ecchi anime, either—but all in all, it was nothing that was considered porn.

Mokuba popped on the DVD on and went back to his bed and waited until the Menu title loaded. Four selections appeared, each representing a different movie, all involving hot tubs. After a bit of thought, he pressed Play on the first title, which included two college-aged girls splashing around in a public hot tub together.

The production quality of the movie, as Mokuba noticed, was pretty terrible, even by porn standards. From the low quality scenery that looked like something his school's drama club built to the generic, clichéd music that blared so loud that the dialogue could barely be heard over it (not that there was anything worth hearing as far as plot went), everything screamed B-budget.

Mokuba watched as the two girls, named Hikari and Yuri, got into the hot bath together, wearing the skimpiest of bathing suits. The casting was the only thing this director got right in this film, getting two equally cute girls with very large bosoms and long legs. The one named Yuri had dyed blond hair, and was especially hot.

"Wow, have your boobs gotten bigger?" she asked Hikari.

"Can you feel them to see if they have?" Hikari giggled. "Here, I'll just take this off…"

The two girls continued on with their forbidden passion...the quality of the film was no longer such a problem to Mokuba anymore, and for the first time all weekend, he felt himself relaxing…

At that moment, he heard a knock on his door. "Mokuba, are you awake?"

"What the f…?" Mokuba let out an irritated groan as he reached for the remote and turned off the TV set. He couldn't remember the last time Seto came knocking at his door this late in the evening. He sure did have a great sense of timing to pick tonight of all times.

In a resigned voice, he responded,"Come in."

He heard Seto try to open up the door before he remembered the door was locked. "Whoops, sorry."

Mokuba got up reluctantly from his bed, and opened the door to find Seto with his Stern Big Brother look about him and his arms folded.

"You okay?" Mokuba asked. "I know I usually have the door unlocked and--"

Seto waved his hand to cut him off. "Where's your science homework?"

"Err…" Mokuba stammered and pointed in the direction of the computer desk. "It's right over on there. Why?"

Seto glanced over briefly at the desk. "Your science teacher called. She says your grade in her class dropped because of an unusually low score on your last test."

Mokuba took a breath and walked back to the bed, placing a pillow over his lap. He should have known this was coming. "It's just one test…my grade's still the best in the class."

"That's not the point. Did you tell her you didn't study because of your work at Kaiba Corp?" Seto's voice was as cool as usual, with only a hint of irritation and, even worse, disappointment.

"Umm…"Mokuba stammered yet again and looked down. He was in for it now. "Er…yeah?"

Seto glowered at him.

"Well, I couldn't tell her I'd forgotten to study!" he replied indignantly.

"That's exactly what you should have told her," said Seto. "It's the truth. Your grades in the class show you are more than capable of understanding this material. Did you really think you could fool anyone with that lame excuse? You've had more work than this before, and your grades were fine."

Mokuba felt his cheeks grow warm in shame.

"This project is a better idea than I thought it would be."

"Um…about that..."Mokuba began and scratched the back of his head in nervousness. "I'm having trouble coming up with an idea for that."

"How so?"

"How am I supposed to come up with an idea by the end of tomorrow?!" This was nuts…Maybe Seto was able to work at such frantic speeds, but Mokuba was sure he wasn't.

Seto didn't agree. "You'll think of something. You always come up with good ideas for the company and the park. You should be using your brain on something beside getting into trouble."

"Nii-sama! I don't get into trouble--"

"But you help to attract it. We've talked about that so many times, I've lost count."

Mokuba started to say something, but stopped. He too had lost track of how often this issue had come up (usually on an evening when he'd come home late or forgotten to call when he said he would); Seto would tell him how dangerous it was to be out so late, then Mokuba would tell him he's more than capable of defending himself if someone tried to start anything with him, then Seto would list a bunch of other things that could go wrong, like possibly getting kidnapped or drugged or getting caught up in something stupid thing that one of his friends could be doing. After going back and forth, they would storm off into their own rooms and not speak to each other until the next afternoon. Nothing ever got resolved.

Seto was not letting the issue of his grades go. "That test score was pretty low for your standards. 75 percent? What were you thinking about?"

"I forgot to study one time, okay?" Mokuba said. "I'm making up some of the points, and I'm still passing the class. Geez." Like he was the first person to ever screw up a test. So he got carried away _once_. Did it hurt to relax just a little bit? Why couldn't Seto act more like his brother instead of his father all the time?

"I'm glad to hear it, but it was irresponsible not to study in the first place."

Mokuba sighed, knowing full well he lost the argument. Grumpily, he tucked himself under his covers and rolled himself over, facing away from Seto. "I'll do better next time."

The next sound Mokuba heard was Seto closing the door.

-----

It wasn't unusual for Mokuba to stay up all night, his mind pre-occupied with thoughts, be they about school or work or Seto's well being. It never ceased to amazing him how many people he'd come across who thought his life was so carefree simply because he had lots of money when he had grown up with concerns and worries that no one he knew could have ever comprehended.

Tonight, he worried about that damn project. Really, what was Seto thinking giving him such a short deadline? Two days? He may have been grounded with nothing else to do, but he wasn't a prodigy that could conquer every game known to man or learn five languages by the age of thirteen or take two percent of the world's largest stock and strategically overthrow the CEO who was more than twice his own age.

_I shouldn't even do this at all. This is stupid. What's the worst that will happen to me, I'll be fired?_

Mokuba let out a hollow laugh into the dark room. Of course he couldn't get fired. When Gozaburo died, the first thing Seto did was make him Vice President of the Kaiba Corp; Mokuba was the only person in the world he trusted, and it allowed them time to spend together, as they planned the opening of Kaiba Land. Nothing made Mokuba happier back in those days than to make Seto proud of him; which was why he gave his all in learning everything he could about Kaiba Corp and taking an active interest in running the company. Considering the sacrifice Seto had made for him, Mokuba wouldn't have denied any of his brother's wishes.

…and even now, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do or think about, it just didn't seem right to slag it off.

Mokuba rolled over from his back to his side to look at the alarm clock, which now read 4:09 AM. It was no use trying to sleep now; if he actually did manage to fall asleep now, it'd be time for him to wake up again soon enough, and he was known to be a heavy sleeper.

Well, this was certainly a creative punishment tactic, Mokuba had to admit that much. Taking the cars away wouldn't have been much of a punishment seeing that he had drivers at his back and call. Neither, really, was being entirely cut off…80,000 yen was more than enough to make it through the rest of the month, since Kaiba Corp owned two Burger World chains in town and they knew the Kaibas well there. There wasn't much Seto could take away to really get over a point across that Mokuba would really miss.

Except his music room.

_If only Seto hadn't locked the guitar in the music room. _Practicing often helped to clear Mokuba's mind when he had something to worry about like a test and was the one thing no one could compare him to Seto in. He'd taken to that like Seto had taken to gaming and technology. Mokuba knew his way around a computer pretty well, too, but it just wasn't the same as playing a guitar and expressing his feelings though it. He'd tried his voice at singing a few times in front of his friends, and all of them encouraged him not to let his voice go to waste. But the idea of singing in public never appealed much to Mokuba.

_I need to practice and get some ideas._

In a flash, Mokuba got out of bed, grabbed the T-shirt off the floor, and ran to his closet to grab a wire hanger. Then he left the room and went down the stairs to the first floor. He had to be careful, lest the sound of his footsteps woke up Seto, as the hallway could echo quite a bit (as Mokuba had found out in recent months during a few vain attempts to sneak home after curfew unnoticed).

It was a long walk to the other side of the mansion, where the music room was. But he was finally there, and wire hanger in hand, Mokuba bent down to get at eye level with the doorknob to pick the lock. As he grabbed a hand around the knob, he realized that the makeshift pick was not needed: the door was already unlocked.

"Huh?"

Mokuba looked behind him to make sure Seto wasn't standing behind him before going inside the room…he found everything where it was on Friday morning, which was the last time he'd been in there, as he walked across the room.

The room itself was the most vibrant and youthful in the whole mansion, with bright red walls, adorned with the posters and CD jacket covers of many different musical artists. The tops of the walls were decorated with a border of CD's that Mokuba no longer listened to, now that MP3's were in fashion, and he had his entire music collection backed up on three different hard drives. The room had once been his own personal arcade, until Mokuba converted it last year.

And now, where his various fighting games used to sit, there was a computer set up for recording his music. Across from that was a blue futon/couch for when his friends came over (Which wasn't often, with his busy schedule, Mokuba noted).

And on the opposite side from the doorway were his four guitars sat. Mokuba reached and pulled a white one off of its stand to tune it. On one corner of the guitar near the volume control was a picture of a blue eyes white dragon. Mokuba had bought it for Seto for his birthday a few years ago, thinking it would be fun to share his hobby with him. But Seto was absolutely terrible at playing, and just couldn't improve, no matter how hard he tried.

And he certainly did try, like he did with everything else in life. After a while, Mokuba told him it was okay if he didn't want to continue with lessons anymore. He knew Seto was only putting in effort for his sake. It was the only thing he could think of in his whole life that didn't come easily to his older brother (or at all, for that matter).

_Music…_

Mokuba found he would no longer have to practice for inspiration; the idea he needed crashed into his mind like a ton of bricks. Why hadn't he thought about this sooner?

He got up and left the room, and hurry back to his bedroom. He could outline a few ideas before Seto woke up…

-----

Seto rarely deviated from any routine, including the time in which he stepped out of his bedroom in the morning at 5:47 on the dot. And today was no exception.

"Morning, Nii-sama," Mokuba greeted as soon as Seto opened the door to his room. Seto took a step back and his eyes slightly widened at the unexpected surprise of Mokuba blocking his way.

"You're up early," Seto commented.

Mokuba held up manila folder. "Here you go."

"For what?" Seto asked as he took the folder and tucked it under his arm.

"Did you forget that it's already Monday?"

"I know what day it is. I'm surprised you came up with an idea before I've had my coffee."

"Me, too," Mokuba replied. He took two steps back to allow Seto to come out into the hallway. The two walked downstairs towards the dining room for breakfast, as Seto pulled out the business proposal from the folder and read it over.

As they walked, Mokuba could swear that he could see over the top of his brother's head without straining. He wondered if Seto realized this, too? Maybe he didn't, or else he would have made a mention about it by now. They were both used to Seto being the taller of the two, and Mokuba took for granted that would always be the case. It would be a bit unusual for two full Japanese to be so tall, even brothers. It was even more unusual for the two of them to have any physical trait in common.

He heard the soft sound of the folder being shut as they reached the dining room. Two of the cooks had already brought out a breakfast of egg omelet and rice, with a bowl of miso soup and a helping of herring on the side. A pot of coffee sat between their plates.

Mokuba pulled out a chair for himself and sat down, feeling the most excited he'd been about anything all weekend. "So what do you think? Great idea, huh?"

Seto seated himself too and reached over to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"I'm proud you came up with such an idea in two days."

"And hour and a half ago, to be precise," Mokuba beamed. "It was because you opened the door to my music room and I got inspiration."

"I know how you always go there for relaxing and all," Seto commented. "But you know you're still on punishment."

"Yeah," Mokuba said, as he pushed a piece of omelet in his mouth. "But thanks."

The two nodded at each other for a moment.

"You haven't told me what you think about the idea," Mokuba insisted.

"I certainly wouldn't have come up with it," said Seto. "A concert at Kaiba Land? But how does that help the declining sales?"

After swallowing a mouthful of rice, Mokuba replied, "When you think about it, there are more people who enjoy good music than enjoy dueling. Why not open the horizons to more consumers, and make Kaiba Land more than just a place for Duelists? Oh, pass me the coffee."

Seto still seemed a bit skeptical as he passed the coffee pot. "Most of the music I hear you listen to is hardly 'good.' This country's full of music idols that only make one hit."

Mokuba laughed. He certainly had to agree with Seto there, even if he wasn't the type to listen to anything on the radio.

"But that's why I suggested building a concert around a lot of the Indie groups. Perhaps use the groups after the concert in commercials for our products. I could pick the groups personally, like on that American show with the singers and the voting…whatever the name is."

"If you want to make a success of this concert, Mokuba, we can afford to hire the most popular groups--"

"That's just it, Nii-sama," Mokuba cut him off. "I want to find a bunch of new groups that want a big break and a venue to be heard, you know?"

Seto nodded in understanding. If there was anyone that knew the value of proving his worth on his own merits, it was he, who had taken over an empire single-handedly.

"That's fine. But," Seto continued, "There are a few things we have to go over about the type of music lyrics--nothing explicit about sex or drugs. Kaiba Corp is supposed to be a family-friendly company."

"That's fair."

"And another thing. You have to keep your nose clean. You're going to be in the media even more than before, and you don't need any more incidents like the one this weekend and the one last Thursday."

"But being bad helps music careers!"

"You don't _have_ a music career!"

Seto glared at Mokuba, who then took very long sip of his miso soup.

"Mmmm, yum." He wiped his mouth and pushed his chair back from the table. "I'm gonna go get changed, Nii-sama. See ya in a few."

And up the stairs he went, running into his room to take a shower and put on a cleaner shirt and some decent slacks. He was about to run back down until he realized he'd almost forgotten something. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the locket lying on top of his computer desk.

"Geez, how'd I almost forget that?" he said quietly. Mokuba reached over to grab the locket, and opened it to see the picture he had long since memorized; the ten-year-old version of Seto, smiling a smile that would be gone in years to come, playing a game that helped to give him, Mokuba, the life he had now. It was interesting to know how much their lives had changed since that time.

He heard a knock on his door. "Mokuba! I'm ready to go."

Mokuba slipped the locket chain around his neck. "All right, I'm coming!" He opened the door and the two of them headed down the stairs and out the door.

TBC 

-----

Sorry for the rather long break in between updates, but a huge thanks for being patient with me and not sending me reviews badgering me to update sooner. : )

Among other factors in RL (Moving, new job, lack of inspiration, ect), this fic is a LOT harder to write than I imagined it would be. I'm sure plenty of you know the usual stereotypes with Teen! Mokuba--especially Teen! Mokuba who isn't so clean cut as his anime ten-year-old canon counterpart, and I want very much to avoid those (You can check out the original idea for Chapter Two over at my LJ account, which seems to have just about every cliché I hate now—yikes!). I'm glad that, if nothing else, Seto and Mokuba still care about each other in this fic, which not too many fics seem to have. Take that away, and I might as well write about Gary Stu and his kid brother Mark, to paraphrase a review I once came across.

RE: chapter one-Yeah, I did a bad thing violating Japan law with the driver's license thing. At the risk of sounding lazy and careless, I seriously did not know. If and when I can find someway of editing that and not mess up the rest of the story, I'll fix that. To me, the plot and characterization are top priorities over local law, but I do try to keep consistent with Japanese culture as much as possible. :) And speaking of that—Yes, there are a few American shows that get dubbed into Japanese—one of the more well-known of these shows being the over-hyped tripe that is "Friends." I've heard one or two of the "Star Trek" series have aired there as well, but I haven't heard much to confirm that.

Thanks for all the support and feedback, and feel free to leave any comments.


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